Friday, April 14, 2006

Michael meets THE LIZARD WHOMPER!

Today is a red-letter day for me, because in about an hour and a half I'm going to get to meet one of my stop-motion inspirations, the talented and utterly SICK genius, Tennessee Reid Norton! Tennessee has been involved with some really high-profile projects over the years, from THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS to television's THE PJs and now the show that has captured the hearts of anyone who ever possessed an action figure, ROBOT CHICKEN! There is one film of his, however, that has had a more profound effect on me than any other: 1996's stop-motion splatter masterpiece, THE LIZARD WHOMPER! TLW was one of the inspirations behind my first stop-mo effort, VALLEY OF GWOMBI, and if you check out TLW here at Atom Films I'm sure you'll see why! I almost lost my lunch when I first saw it, which is about the highest compliment you can pay to another artist, IMHO...

In addition to being super-cool about some random Hollywoodite contacting him thru his website, Tennessee has invited me over to visit the ROBOT CHICKEN studios for a tour AND to watch the weeklys with the crew! I've been practicing my shallow-breathing technique all morning, so I don't hyperventilate. On some level, tho, I'm sure Tennessee and the rest of the RC crew are used to this reaction from their fans :) . Be sure to visit his website here and prepare to be amazed by this guy's talent...